Seven soldiers and 38 militants died in an assault by the Boko Haram jihadist group in southeastern Niger, the defense ministry said.

“Armed forces … strongly repelled an attack by the terrorist group Boko Haram on the outskirts of Gueskerou,” the ministry said in a statement read on state television on Saturday.

The report added that one of the attackers was captured alive.

Five vehicles belonging to the attackers and “a large quantity of weapons (four AK47 rifles, eight machine guns, two RPG rocket launchers, ammunition) were recovered,” the statement added.

ActuNiger reported that the incident occurred in Woulwa, around 5 km from Gueskerou.

The Multinational Joint Task Force, which comprises troops from Chad, Cameroon, Niger and Nigeria, said in a statement published by the Nigerian Army that “Boko Haram Terrorists operating along the Kamadougou River, between Niger and Nigeria, attacked troops location in Gueskerou, about 30 kilometers from Diffa.”

That report stated that “27 terrorists” were killed and six technicals were destroyed as some militants escaped, fleeing to Nigeria.

Boko Haram split into two factions in mid-2016. One is led by Abu Mus’ab Al-Barnawi and largely focuses on attacking military and government targets, while the other, led by Shekau, is notorious for suicide bombings and indiscriminate killings of civilians.